Michigan Sequestration Layoffs Avoided

By News 10&nbsp|&nbsp

Posted: Mon 2:52 PM, Apr 15, 2013&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Tue 3:41 AM, Apr 16, 2013

The State Budget Office announced today that there will be no layoffs of state workers due to the implementation of sequestration cuts. The budget office estimated that there will be program cuts of $150.5 million in fiscal years 2013 and 2014.

The total program reductions for fiscal year 2013 are estimated at $59.2 million. An additional $92.3 million in reduced spending is projected for fiscal year 2014.

The sequestration cuts range for departments across the state. In the Department of Human Services, the annual allowance for children’s clothing will be eliminated. Previously, the $137 per child clothing allowance went to 21,000 children each August. The Department of Community Health will reduce funding for programs programs aimed at serving seniors, nutrition services, and injury and disease prevention.

Education funding reductions will total over $54 million. Schools district will face sequestration cuts next school year in areas such as special education services, Title I funding, career & technical education, after-school programs, teacher quality grants, and other grants. School districts will need to adjust their budgets this summer to compensate for reduced federal revenues at the beginning of the next school year.

Most of the sequestration cuts come by way of reductions of federal grants to local entities. In the current fiscal year, 42 percent of Michigan's state budget comes from federal funds, which comes to approximately $20 billion of the $48.2 billion state budget.

“We’ve said from the start that Michigan would not be replacing lost federal dollars with state dollars due to sequestration and that still holds true. We support getting the nation’s fiscal house in order, though across-the-board cuts like this are not the way to go about it. We took a much more thoughtful approach here in Michigan in putting the budget in balance.”

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